OBERLIN, Ohio – Students at Oberlin Senior High School describe Ohio’s newest teacher of the year as exciting, engaged, amazing, and “the best.”
No matter what time of day it is, you can find teaching veteran Kurt Russell connecting with students — not just in his classroom, but in the hallways.
He’s big on student engagement. It’s something he said he got from his eighth grade math teacher, Larry Thomas, and it’s something he never forgot.
“What I really admire about Mr. Thomas was his ability to engage all students,” Russell explained. It’s a note from Thomas’ page that Russell took and uses today, to make sure all of his students feel welcome and inspired.
While engagement was one of the biggest takeaways, Russell said Thomas was the first Black male teacher he ever had.
“What I loved about Mr. Thomas was his respect for his profession. He dressed up every single day, and his way of engaging students when we walked into his classroom — and this was in the 80’s — you know he’s giving out fist bumps, making jokes of himself, making students feel at ease,” Russell said.
As you can imagine, Russell does some of the same things.
A lover of history in general, Russell makes it a top priority for students to express their thoughts and opinions in his history classes, especially in his Race, Gender, and Oppression class.
“I am really, really big on representation and equity in the classroom, making sure that students have a voice,” he said.
“We do debates and he just makes it overall a great experience,” explained student Victoria McCown.
While those debates sometimes leave students stumped as they try to determine what the best solutions are for citizens today, they’re encouraged to think about the lessons they need to walk away with afterward.
“That’s what makes the class enjoyable because I’m challenged,” said student Caleb Peterson.
Now that Russell has been named as Ohio’s 2022 Teacher of the Year, he’ll get to travel the state sharing his thoughts and ideas about education, while inspiring other teachers. Plus, he gets to compete against teachers from every state to become National Teacher of the Year. If selected, he’ll travel nationwide for a year speaking on behalf of the teaching profession.
